Damn the torpedos! Well, there may not be any torpedos, but it's been full speed ahead for our Water Taxis during the first week of 'Viageddon.'

As the Battle of the Bridge raged, this small flotilla flawlessly executed their plan for a quantum (and record) increase in service, rescuing commuters from hours of traffic jams and road rage. Boats have been added and schedules flexed so commuters arrive on time and relaxed.

Kudos to the management, crew and shuttles for their outstanding service to our transit-challenged communities.

To the Editor:
I liked Pat Robinson’s article in the March 18, 2016 Westside Weekly on “Make up your own mind.” I would like to expand on the idea. “We are drowning in data yet starving for information” as many different people have said. How do we cut through all the chatter, newscasts, newspapers, emails, and so on, such that we can make sense of anything, let all of it? The Foundation of Critical Thinking (http://www.creativethinking.org) offers an approach called Universal Intellectual Standards and some questions that we can use to think about them.
Clarity: is the message clear? Do I understand it? Would an example help me to understand? Would anything help me understand it?

Accuracy: is the message true? How might it be supported, justified, confirmed, or falsified?
Precision: Is the message precise or specific, or it is more of an abstract generality with little meaning?
Depth: does the message cover the topic in sufficient depth or does it just provide a high-level perspective that while interesting may be essentially meaningless?

Breadth: does the message cover the topic in sufficient breadth or does it just provide a narrow perspective?

We’re just a few weeks away from the first caucuses and primaries, so presidential election season is in full swing. As a voter, you may be keenly interested in the election process. But as an investor, should you be concerned?

If you take a look back, you might be somewhat encouraged over the prospects of the financial markets this year. In the last 12 presidential election years, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been up nine times and down just three. So, election years must be good for the financial markets, right?

Not necessarily. In every year, the markets are influenced by a variety of factors: interest rates, inflation, corporate profits, geopolitical events, economic growth, even the weather. And it’s safe to say that 2016 will be no different. At this early stage of the year, one could say that some of these factors, such as continued low interest rates and a reasonably strong economy, might bode well for investors. But there’s a lot of 2016 ahead of us – and it’s notoriously difficult for anybody, even so-called experts, to accurately predict the market’s performance over a relatively short time, such as a year.